In This Time of Darkness
by AllyO2
Summary: The people of Atlantis fall ill to a disease that shows no symptoms. There is no cause, no way to cure it. Dr. Keller struggles to maintain hope that she will be able to discover what it is. But, what happens when Teyla's child becomes ill? K/Ronon K/Mcka
1. Chapter 1

It was a typical day in Atlantis. Well, no, not really. There was no mission to go on, no threatening sickness, no dark danger. But, like all other times, that was about to change.

Teyla woke up to the crying of Torin. Sleepily, she held him, crooning softly. He was so beautiful; at times, she felt it hard to believe that he was _hers_. Kanan was almost never in Atlantis these days, he preferred to stay with the Ethosians. Teyla missed him, but something was different, something wasn't right. He was not the Kanan she had known before Michael. Certainly, the whole episode must have been very hard for him, she knew this. Still, she could not shake the feeling.

After dressing, Teyla went to the mess hall. It was quiet, but John was sitting in a corner table with a cup of coffee. He looked up as she entered, smiled, and motioned for her to join him.

"How's Torin this morning?" he asked.

"Very...noisy. He hasn't cried much for a few weeks now. But this morning he would not stop."

"Should get Keller to take a look at him."

"Yes. Today Kanan is coming to take him back to Ethos. It would be wise for Jennifer to make sure that he is not sick."

John noticeably stiffened at Kanan's name.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No," John said. "Should there be?"

"I was only wondering. But ever since..."

"How do you guys manage to wake up so early?"

Teyla stopped talking.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?"

"No," Teyla smiled. "Good morning, Rodney."

"French Toast," Rodney held up a plate of food. "Mmmhh. Smells good. Do you want...?"

"No, thank you."

"Hm. Okay."

Sitting down beside Teyla, Rodney started to eat with gusto.

"So, any missions today?"

"No. Not that I've been told. It's only six, Rodney," Sheppard said irritably.

"Well, I hope not. I have a new program I want to install. Or, try to install. I've developed it to increase the shield strength. So, if any Wraiths, or...whatever, try to attack Atlantis, the shields should hold for longer."

"How'd you do that?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney sighed. Why couldn't Sheppard just accept the fact that he was a genius and was capable of doing these things?

"Um... Sam started working on it while she was here. But I just finished making the adjustments."

Sheppard just nodded.

"I can't find anything wrong. He doesn't have a fever, or any other symptoms that I can see." Jennifer looked up at Teyla and smiled reassuringly. "He's probably just having a bad day."

Teyla sighed with a tired smile. "Thank you. I know I probably worry too much about him."

"Not at all. It's totally understandable."

Teyla lifted Torin in her arms gently.

"When does Kanan get here?"

"Noon. I just wanted to make certain that Torin was in good health."

"Of course."

After Teyla had left, Jennifer felt strangely empty. Today, there was simply _nothing _wrong. Everything was peaceful. She'd only had four patients that day, and nothing had been wrong with any of them.

"Hey," Ronon said, walking beside her.

She turned and smiled at him, after wiping the startled look off her face. "Oh. Hi, Ronon."

"Sorry."

He must have noticed her involuntary jump.

"'S okay. Does it seem _too _quiet around here to you?"

"Uh...a little bit, maybe. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. I just haven't seen Atlantis this quiet before."

"There is the occasional day."

"Yeah. But so far I've had three of the marines tell me that they felt sick. But I couldn't find anything wrong."

"Huh."

Ronon was quiet and they walked along in silence.

"Dr. Keller!"

Jennifer stopped and turned at the nurse's voice call her.

"Yes?"

"Major Lorne collapsed in the mess hall. I think you should come and see."

Lorne was fine. Physically, at least. He had no fever, no sign of anything. But he had had to be sedated, after going into convulsions.

Jennifer shook her head. "No. Get him under the scanners."

The scan's revealed nothing.

"I don't get it."

Later that day, the other two marines were brought in, all having the same symptoms, none showing anything wrong. And then, and then came Torin.

**So, tell me what you think. Does it have potential? lol. Please review. **


	2. Chapter 2

"You liar!" Teyla screamed.

"Teyla, I swear that I didn't...see..." Jennifer looked helplessly at Ronon, who had just entered the infirmary.

"How could you not have known? You should have. _I _should have," she finished quietly.

"Teyla, c'mon. Let's go get you something..."

"I'm fine!"

"No. You aren't."

"I've made him as comfortable as possible," Jennifer offered weakly. What could she say? She felt foolish in front of Ronon, who was trying to help her, but clearly didn't quite know what to do.

"Teyla!"

Thank God, it was John. He firmly led Teyla out of the infirmary. Jennifer closed her eyes, trying to rid herself of the terrible headache she had.

"You okay?" Ronon asked, having been left with Jennifer.

"Yeah. It's just...she's right. I should have known."

"The tests didn't show anything," Ronon shrugged.

"But _I should have known_."

"How?"

"I've always had a sort of sixth sense about this stuff. And why I didn't know something was wrong this time is beyond me."

Ronon looked at something directly behind Jennifer. "So how are they?"

"Not, uh, not good. The other two marines have internal bleeding; Lorne has some kind of brain damage."

"And...Torin?"

"He's stable."

"Good."

Jennifer blinked. She still could not get that image out of her head- Teyla, holding Torin, who was convulsing terribly. Jennifer still felt ashamed that she had just stood there. She hadn't been able to think, hadn't been able to do anything. And when she finally took him from Teyla, she had just stood there, holding him before her brain snapped back into working order.

"I...need to get back to work," Jennifer finally said. "I should run tests."

"Right," Ronon nodded.

John made Teyla a cup of tea, watching her. She sat there limply, as if in shock. She took the teacup from him, and sat it on the tabletop.

"He's gonna be okay." John didn't know what to say. Why wasn't Kanan here? Torin was _his _son, after all.

"I do not know why I said that. To Jennifer."

"Because you were upset, and sometimes we do things like that."

"I don't know what to do."

"It's okay. Just wait..."

"I want Kanan. Why isn't he here? He's supposed to be here."

"Okay. Well, I don't know why he's not here." John was put out by the fact that _his _comfort wasn't good enough. He struggled to keep down whatever emotions were rising inside of him.

**I GREATLY appreciate all of the wonderful reviews, thanks, guys. Here's another chapter (so soon, I know.) But please review, and be nice. **


	3. Chapter 3

Teyla stood silently, holding Torin in her arms. Amazingly, Jennifer had said that he wasn't showing any of the signs that the marines were, and he didn't need to be kept in the infirmary any longer.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," Teyla said, offering a smile.

"For what?"

"Yelling at you earlier. I do not know how I could have said such things."

"You were upset, concerned for your son. I get it, its okay."

"Thank you," Teyla said quietly. She left.

Kanaan had still not arrived in Atlantis, and he was supposed to have been there yesterday morning. Teyla was afraid for his safety, knowing that he would have told her if he could not have come. She would have to ask John if he could possibly get in contact with him. Speaking of John...

"So, I see he's been given a clean bill of health."

Teyla smiled happily. "Yes. And hopefully, he'll stay that way."

"Well, we're all glad he's okay."

"Thank you." Teyla sighed quietly.

"What's wrong?"

"What? Oh, I was simply wondering where Kanaan is. He hasn't arrived yet." Yes, she was certain that she saw John's face loose just a bit of his grin. Why was that?

"He probably got delayed. I'll see if I can find out where he is."

"I would appreciate that. Though I do not think that it would be wise for Torin to leave Atlantis, for the time being."

"Probably not. How are the marines?"

"Not good. Dr. Keller says that they still are not showing any signs that they are sick, yet they all are experiencing signs of brain deterioration."

"Okay. I'm gonna go check on her. See you later."

"Yes."

"I've managed to stabilize them. They aren't getting worse, but not better either," Jennifer told Sheppard.

"Lorne?"

"He's not quite as bad as the others. Something's slowing down the deterioration to his brain, though he was the first to fall ill."

"Any idea what that could be?"

Jennifer shook her head. "No. And I've done every test imaginable."

"Maybe he picked up something from the last planet he visited."

"It's possible."

"Do you think this thing's contagious?"

"I don't know. No one else, besides Torin, has shown any symptoms. Actually, I'm surprised that Torin is okay. He was showing the same signs as the others."

"Well, I'm glad he's okay. Teyla seemed pretty upset."

"Yeah. I kind of noticed."

"Right."

"Anyways, so if you'll excuse me, I've got to brief Woolsey."

"Okay. I'm going to see if I can figure out what planet Lorne's team visited last."

"Good idea."


End file.
